Thorns
by Topographic Ocean
Summary: With the Grail War of Fate/Gallica two years in the past, peace has returned to Europe. Rose, a self-confident Magus wet-worker, is hired by the enigmatic Xavier Roux to ignite an old blood-feud. However, there is more to this manoeuvre than meets the eye and Rose will be torn between her morals and her duty as she tries to discern friend from foe. Sequel to Fate/Gallica.


Chapter 1  
Der Überfall

As far as Rose was concerned, this was an easy job. Find the target, neutralise them, and collect the green when all was said and done. She didn't even need to bring proof of the kill back with her; a dream job as far as her line of work was concerned. As she made her way deeper into the dark forest that surrounded her prey's domicile, however, it soon became clear that this may in fact be wrong. For one, the forest was booby trapped with boundaries and other such mechanisms to disrupt or even kill any wayward intruder. While it was no bother to her how many obstacles that were in her way, that was most definitely not on the job description.

_Well, that's just great,_ Rose thought. There wasn't any form of magical fortification in the target's residence's description from the client. Information lapse like this were never a good sign.

"Shit!" Rose said out loud as she screamed to a halt, narrowly avoiding entering a boundary that suddenly presented itself before her. Nearly falling flat on her face, the woman fell forward and landed cat-like on her hands, balancing on her fingers. Looking up, her nose was centimetres away from the invisible wall that could have spelled an end to this job already. "For the love of…"

Swiftly righting herself, Rose brushed her clothes off and swept her deep brown hair from her face. The form fitting leather jacket she wore was covered by combat webbing that had all manner of devices and pouches attached precariously wherever they could find a fit. Since the night was warm, she had the jacket open to reveal a pitch black tank top was all she wore underneath. However, it was utility belt on her jeans that held the tool she sought right now.

_Guy can't be that good of a Magus… All his Bounded Fields have been so obvious. _As she mulled over what was becoming more of a complex job, a shrill beeping emanated from her belt.

"Jeez, late already…" she said to herself, unclasping the source of the beep from her belt and bringing it to her face. It was an old fashioned beeper, exactly like one a 80s businessman with too much time to stop and think would carry. On the green backlit screen was a scrolling message:

**YOU ARE LATE, ROSE. EXPEDITE. **

"Yeah, I worked that out thanks. Asshole." Rose cursed to the pager. Before replacing it on her belt, she switched it to vibrate only.

_No need to go informing everyone I'm here…_

After replacing the pager, she finally retrieved what she needed to proceed. From the back of her belt, she retrieved two ornamental knives. They were long and thin, the blades at least thirty centimetres in length, with carved leather grips and twisted markings up the polished steel of the blade. She took one in each hand and knelt on the dirt in front of where the Bounded Field could be felt.

"Ok, just like all the times before…" Rose reassured herself and took a deep breath as she lowered both knives evenly to the very edge of the Field.

_Here it goes!_

In perfect unison, she slid the blades forward until they pierced the edge of the field. The moment they hit the barrier, the markings on the blade shone a bright blue, indicating to Rose to twist the daggers upwards so that the points dug into the ground. The pair of daggers now stood firm in the ground, allowing Rose to release her grip and marvel her handiwork.

_Bingo_

The pair of daggers was, in fact, heirlooms of her family; specialised weapons that could interact with the ethereal and the entropic. Using the pair as she did now, she pierced the Bounded Field without breaking it, using the blades as conductors. If the pair were placed appropriately, the opened a hold in the field as tall as the daggers were long that could be used for entry. Entry to a Bounded Field in this way was undetectable, unless the Magus who summoned the field concentrated on the exact spot at the moment the daggers pierced it. Once within the boundary, the knives could be removed and taken with the user and the intruder is regarded as a natural entity within the field.

Zipping up her jacket all the way to the top to compress her chest as much as possible, Rose flattened herself down on her stomach and proceeded to crawl between the two daggers she had placed. Holding her breath, she made sure to crawl forward with as little movement as possible, and continued dragging herself at least a metre away from the field once she entered before kneeling up.

Heaving a sigh as she righted herself, Rose turned and gently removed her daggers by slowly bending them back, and reversing the motions she made to place them.

_Child's play._

Unzipping the jacket to allow for some air flow once again, Rose started her jogging in the direction of the target once more. It was a cool and clear French night, perfect for a brisk jog as it so happened. It was surprisingly rare for her to get a job with any real need take large treks nowadays. Most were in townships and cities. Even if the life of a Magus was a fundamentally solitary one, many found themselves perfectly at home within modern life. Rose herself found crowds and the hustle and bustle of modern life welcoming. For one, she could meld into the crowd and disappear at a moment's notice if need be, but it also gave rise to the urban Magus warfare that she was so accustomed to.

It was only a few hundred metres of steady ambling until she could see light through the trees of the forest. Slowing down, she made it to the edge of the wood. The source of the light was immediately apparent. A grand villa stood in the centre of a clearing which was surrounded by the forest Rose stood in. It was French, with high Mansard style roofing, pilasters framing its windows, giving it an air of strength and solidness to the beautiful building. It had both a front and rear garden, with Rose's current position almost at the very end of the rear garden.

"Oh, right," said Rose suddenly, snapping out of her admiration for the architecture of her target's abode. She reached for a small device attached on her combat webbing and flicked a switch on it. It was a simple radio transponder that she could use for the client to know her position when she reached the main grounds. Judging by the fact it was 9:23pm on her watch and she had been instructed to be at the edge of the grounds by 9pm, it was clear why she received the page.

_If you had given me accurate information on this guy…_ Before getting stuck in looping thoughts of 'ifs', Rose shook her head to clear it. She had a job to focus on, and she was already late.

"Time to move."

Creeping swiftly and silently out from the forest, Rose made for the garden.

* * *

It wasn't a rare occurrence for Lorenzo Alvaro to take out his stress on his surroundings. This time however, his workshop had almost been demolished in his own rage. Among shattered vials, shredded books and in front of a large wood hewn table he sat on a ragged and beaten leather chair that had bared witness to many of these outbursts before. The flickering flames of the candle light that illuminated the room gave the debris a disturbing element of life as their shadows dances and contorted. Lorenzo swept a hand through his short blonde hair, smoothing it out of his face and back into place.

"All that work for _nothing_," he hissed, clenching his teeth and burying his face in his hands. "Nothing…" The remains of a once fully powered jewel lay on the table before him, now nothing more than a pile of red hued ash.

Heir to his father's skills in the Art, specifically the use of charged jewels, he had been an average Magus all his life. However, a short temper and the proclivity towards violence had made it difficult to learn the Art adequately without resorting to destroying his own work. When barely in his twenties, his fits of rage began to extend from his work to those around him. His father was on the receiving end of one of these episodes, leading to his unfortunate death. While Lorenzo could not justify his actions, he would be lying if he ever said he cared his father was gone in the first place. He was simply lucky no one found out, as far as he concerned.

Lorenzo Alvaro, now in his forties, violent by nature and with his only teacher dead by his own hand had become a total recluse from the outside world, relying on his inherited wealth to get by in life.

"L-Lorenzo?" A meek voice came from outside the door to the destroyed room. The door creaked open and revealed a young woman, dressed in comfortable combination of a t-shirt and jeans, with a blonde bob and looking worried.

"Ah." Lorenzo stood abruptly from his chair and made his way to the woman at the door. "Bonfilia, take care of this mess." Brusquely pushing past the woman without even giving her a single glance, the short tempered Magus left the chaos he had made behind him, making for his private study.

"A-are you alright?" Bonfilia called out as Lorenzo strode away. Receiving nothing but a dismissive wave, she could do little resist the urge to sneer. Forced to live with such a vile man, treated like nothing but a maid and left with no living relatives but her foul uncle, the niece of Lorenzo Alvaro lamented her fate.

As she started to clear shattered glass from the floor, picking up overturned chairs and various Magus paraphernalia as she went, Bonfilia felt some relief in that her salvation was soon at hand.

* * *

Making her way through the garden was surprisingly easy. In a stark contrast from the plethora of Bounded Fields she had to infiltrate to gain entry this far into her target's property, the garden lacked any defence mechanisms.

_Seems he places too much faith in his pathetic Bounded Fields…_

Rose quickly reached the outside of the mansion, ready to infiltrate through the rear entrance. However, this was the easy part. According to the client, the doors would be open and Rose would have a clear path to the target.

"Here goes nothing…"

Quietly pacing forward without a sound, she made her way to the glass double doors that led to the inside of her victim's abode. Rose placed her hands gently on the door handles, and turned them. She found they smoothly rotated around and the doors opened with a small push, barely making any more that a faint _click_.

_Now the fun begins…_

She found herself in an exquisite lounge room, complete with a matching set of furniture that included a sofa, chaise lounge and multiple sitting chairs. And, as if it was a piece of mystical technology from the future, a widescreen television sat across from the sofa looking completely and utterly out of place.

_Intriguing design choices,_ Rose couldn't help but think, eyebrow raised.

According to the client once again, the target, one Lorenzo Alvaro, was usually downstairs in the basement workshop or in the upstairs study for most of a day. Unfortunately, a layout of the building was unavailable to Rose, as the client refused to provide it, much to her chagrin.

Deciding not to waste anymore time simply standing in the doorway, Rose proceeded inside and closed the doors behind her. Crossing the hardwood floor quickly, with silent cat-like steps, she reached one of two doors that led further into the house. Placing her ear to the door, she listened for any kind of sounds of life.

Faint footsteps could be heard, softly thudding away and growing fainter and fainter. As far as Rose could tell, they were they sound of shoes on stairs and most likely going upwards.

_The study it is._

Slowly opening the door, Rose peeked through the gap she had made. She could see that the door led to a hallway, and the faint footsteps momentarily grew louder once more without the door in the way. They were coming from the left. Fully opening the door, Rose quietly moved into the hallway and headed in the direction of the footsteps.

After turning right into another hallway, she found a stairway to the second of three floors. The study, as far as she could gather from the client, should be on the second floor.

_Up we go…_

* * *

Lorenzo sat at a desk in his study, surrounded by open books and engrossed by their contents. They all held different secrets of the Art, different pieces to the puzzle of Magecraft, and he was set on unlocking its secrets using his knowledge in jewels. After murdering his father, the death of his mother from sheer heartbreak and his inheritance of everything in the Alvaro name, he found himself at an impasse:

What shall he do with his life?

Knowing only anger and magecraft, research into the power of jewels was the final thought his mind settled on. He would spend almost every waking hour experimenting with jewels: Charging them, combusting them, merging them. At the end of each day, he would resign himself to his mediocrity and at the beginning he would restart the process. An endless cycle of frustration that he had no escape from.

The arrival of his niece from his brother was unexpected but, in reality, meant absolutely nothing. His brother had been killed for threatening the secrecy of the Art by the Mages Association themselves, and his young daughter had nowhere else to go. As much as Lorenzo despised company, he figured that she could act as a housekeeper for him. Not to mention he felt no inclination to even pay any attention to her. As such, he did not.

"Where is it…? It has to be here!" Lorenzo flipped through multiple books and tossed each one aside, looking for answers to his failed ventures of this evening. His search proved fruitless, as he threw each useless book against the wall when he had finished scanning through it like a madman.

He grasped his head in his hands, rage building once more, veins popping in his forehead as his face went bright red. Just as he was about to demolish what was left on top of his desk, a creak of the door behind him could be heard.

"Bonfilia, the study is OFF LIMI-" Lorenzo turned as he yelled his reprimanding reminder only to find who stood in the doorway was not his niece at all. Instead, it was grown woman, at least fifteen years his junior, dressed as if she were in a battlefield.

"Lorenzo Alvaro?" The woman took a step closer and the angered magus leapt around from his chair, eyes crazed.

"Who the hell are you? How did you get in here?" screamed Lorenzo at the intruder, pushing himself back into the desk as much as possible, eyes darting around to find a method of escape, only finding walls lined with books.

"I'll take that as a yes," said Rose as she started a leisurely walk towards her target. From a pouch on her belt, she retrieved and equipped two knuckle dusters over her leather gloves as she walked. "I am known as Rose and I have been hired to execute you, Lorenzo Alvaro. I'll say this only once: If you do not resist, I'll make this a painless and swift affair."

"Fuck you!" screeched the cornered Magus. As confused as he was about who this 'Rose' was, it was obvious that she wanted him dead. As such, he immediately forwent any hint of apprehension. He opened his coat wide to reveal that every square inch of its lining was covered with charged jewels. He grasped a bright red Ruby, and tossed it with expert skill and accuracy. Rose jumped to the side, as the jewel flew past and exploded in a ball of flames on the doorway behind her.

_They never take the easy way, do they?_

"Fine, if that's the way you want it, I hope you can fight better than you can protect your home!" taunted Rose as she charged in with her fists held in front of her face to block anymore jewels. As she drew closer, Lorenzo pulled out more jewels from his coat and prepared to fire them with flicks of fingers.

"Take this!" Lorenzo fired the first of many jewels he had at the ready. Rose ducked it, allowing it to crash into a bookshelf and freeze many of tomes it held. Rose was already upon the jewel wielding Magus when he tried for a second shot.

"Gotcha!" yelled Rose as she let fly a lightning fast straight at Lorenzo's face. He dived out of the way, avoiding the blow, and allowing momentum to carry Rose's fist into the wall behind the desk.

_That'll break her fucking hand!_ Thought Lorenzo, a wicked smile spreading across his face. As he dove out of the way, he turned in time to see the collision between fist and wall. The moment the two touched, however, there was a thunderous crack as the wall blasted apart and spewed dust outwards over the room. Lorenzo stared amazed at the cloud of dust that had enveloped his attacker, confused, when a familiar fist tore through the cloud aimed at his face once again.

"What in the hell?!" he yelled as he once again was forced to avoid a catastrophic blow. However, as Rose flew past Lorenzo, she swept out a leg to shift her weight and spin 180 degrees just before colliding fist first with the bookshelf lined wall. She jumped, using the backwards momentum she now had, and flicked out her legs to land on the wall behind her. As the momentum caught up with the rest of her body, she coiled like a spring against the wall and was held horizontal.

"Surprised?" Rose managed before she extended her legs sharply and shot off the books at insane speed towards Lorenzo with both fists in front of her. The jewel wielding magus could do little but fall backwards to avoid the rocket like figure flying at him. However, his arms flailed outwards and he dropped his current load of jewels.

_Gotcha._

As Rose flew over the magus, his arms were still above him and his left palm made direct contact with her left fist. With a violent crack, the hand simply blasted apart in a red mist as soon as the knuckle duster made contact with it. Lorenzo let out a horrific scream of pain as he clutched at the stump where his hand used to be.

Rose flipped forwards and landed lithely, quickly spinning around to face her crippled foe. Lorenzo stood unsteadily to his feet and turned to face his attacker, cradling the stump where his hand used to be.

"W-what the fuck are you?!" he managed through ragged breaths and grunts of pain. Rose loosened her stance and decided to oblige her target with an answer that wouldn't be immediately followed with the steel of her knuckles.

"Just a magus who dabbles in a little wetwork. Nothing more, nothing less," said Rose, sweeping her long hair out of her face with one hand. Lorenzo looked at Rose like she was some kind of enigma, despite her plain answer.

"H-How can you do _this?!_" he croaked raising the ragged stump on his left arm, shakily holding it aloft.

Rose gave her target a cheeky smile and a wink before placing a single finger to her lips. "Trade secret."

Her flippancy enraging the debilitated magus, Lorenzo let out a roar of anger. He shoved his able hand into his coat and withdrew a pitch black stone that shone in the light. Lorenzo screamed as he held it high and used it to weave the Art without a chant.

_This is not going to end well…_

The jewel shone unnaturally bright as Lorenzo's prana flowed through it. Rose waited to receive an attack as Lorenzo swung his hand down, looking as if he was about to hurl it at her. However, he instead pointed it at the floor between them. The moment the jewel faced the floor, the wooden boards on which the pair of fighters stood buckled and crumpled unnaturally. It was if, the space that the floor itself occupied was contorting and twisting.

"What the hell did you do?!" asked Rose as the floor continued to buckle. Lorenzo only stumbled around, confused by the reaction of his own jewel.

Suddenly, there was an ear splitting crack. Then, the entire floor gave way, taking the pair of Magi with it. The high ceiling of the floor below, a common trait in French style villas, made the fall an extra long one.

Rose was lucky, however, landing atop of a four poster's beds canopy along with shredded wooden remains of the ceiling. It tore as she landed on it, but arrested her falling speed so she landed as gently as possible on the bed itself. Lorenzo was not so lucky. He fell directly on to the wooden floor of the level below. He slammed hard into the wood of the floor, lying in a painful heap. Books started to rain down from the floor above, dislodged from their shelves by the rumbling of the collapse.

"Christ, you stupid fool! You could have killed the both of us!" said Rose, angrily rising from the soft bed. It was clearly a bedroom into which they had fallen. Judging by a few cursory glances around the room that Rose could spare, it was most certainly not the target's bedroom .That was, unless he dressed in the women's clothing that was strewn everywhere.

_Funny, I thought he actually lived alone…_

Rose reached the pitiful Magus who was trying desperately to simply raise himself from the floor. The elbow on the arm missing a hand was protruding through the skin and one of his ankles was bloodied and facing in an unnatural direction. He was crippled as it was.

"I told you to make this easy on yourself! I told you! They never listen…" muttered Rose as she lowered herself to her haunches beside the crippled Magus.

"Who… Who sent you?" spluttered Lorenzo, knowing he had reached his limit. Rose decided he deserved to know what she knew at least.

"You know, I'm not quite sure who it was. I never met them in person, but I can tell you right now they know you personally." Rose looked over the Magus one more time, noticing one of his eyes was closed over and covered in blood, and the other was open wide and staring at her. There was anger pure and raw in that eye. "Now, now, now. This isn't personal. Don't hold it against me. I wasn't the one who wanted you dead."

"No, that was me." A voice came from the doorway behind Rose. She quickly lifted off the floor and spun to face the intruder when she came saw it was but a teenage girl.

"B-Bonfilia?" stammered Lorenzo, trying to shift himself to see the doorway from which the voice came. Rose couldn't help but smirk.

"So _you're_ the client," she chuckled, giving the girl before her a once over, assessing her. Bonfilia merely nodded and walked into the obliterated room. "I take it this is your room?"

"Would you mind just completing your job? I am paying you, you know," replied Bonfilia sharply, not daring to gaze upon the 'help'.

"Pfft, whatever girlie," said Rose dismissively with shrug, turning back to the pile of Magus at her feet. "Looks like it's the end for you." Rose lowered herself to one knee, pulling back her fist ready to unload a finally blow into Lorenzo's skull.

"No! Wai-" Lorenzo Alvarro was cut-off as the knuckle duster connected with his head, causing a spontaneous explosion. His head disintegrated, the splatter from the blow blasting out to the sides and slightly upwards, hitting Bonfilia who had snuck closer to observe the handiwork of her employee. A slick sprayed across her chest and an outstretched arm that did little to prevent saturation of herself with Lorenzo's grey matter. Rose escaped with only a thin film of blood on her clenched fist.

Bonfilia looked at the blood and grey matter that cover her arm and shirt and started dry wrenching. Rose looked at her coldly, observing her struggle to stay composed. While doing so, Rose pulled a cloth from inside her leather jacket and wiped off her hand. It was still a dull red that needed a proper wash after the wipe down.

"You need this?" Rose offered the cloth to her client, who was trying to catch her breath and not look at the remains of Lorenzo that coated herself. Bonfilia snatched the cloth from Rose and started vigorous wiping her arm and shirt with it.

"You know, you aren't quite cut out for this, girlie," Rose said, heading to the door. "Take my advice: Let this be the last foray into death you ever take." Her words were cold but genuine. She paused to look at her client to ensure her message got through. Given the still frantic wiping at herself, Rose wagered it did. She finally reached the door, only to be halted once more.

"Wait!" Bonfilia managed. "You can't just leave me with him like this!" Rose turned to her client and gave a shrug.

"It's none of my business what happens after the job. My only role is to destroy the target. Not handle the cleanup." Bonfilia's jaw dropped at the idea of having to deal with the remains of her uncle.

"Then what am I supposed to do?!" she yelled, her voice beginning to screech.

"Hmm. What _are_ you supposed to do?" Rose said simply, leaving the room, Bonfilia and the remains of a successful job behind.

* * *

It took at least an hour for Rose to reach her Audi again from the Alvarro estate, and another three hours drive to reach the city of Adorf, Germany. Her current office and apartment was set up there, although she moved around German and French countrysides often enough to have no true homestead. The sun was already rising by the time she entered the city limits.

Adorf was a small town, sitting on the border of Germany and the Czech Republic. Surrounded by vivid green pastures and with just over 5,000 residents, it was a quiet retreat for Rose to escape to once the job was done, assuming time allowed her. Lately, she had been roaming from hotel to hotel on assignments, this being the last in what was a busy month.

As she parked in the street outside her apartment building, she remembered how lucky she was to get the room she wanted. In reality, it was more of an office building that had multiple separated studios for rent. She shouldn't have been living there. However, the manager of the building had need of her services in the past. Specifically, the manager had a rather disturbing tenant who had a proclivity to conduct experiments with the Art with little regard for secrecy or the safety of others in the building. Upon his removal, she had her own office for free, and used it as living quarters. Not exactly legal, but her business was not exactly legal.

Rose entered the building and took the elevator to the top floor, quickly shuffling down the darkened corridor to her room. The first room was the standard office, replete with an ornate oak desk, which was another gift from a happy client, and two vibrant red leather chairs. She quickly took off her leather jacket that was weighed down with gadgets and threw it on one of the chairs, happy to be free of the baggage.

As she made her way to the end of the room, dying to just take a shower and sleep the next day away, she noticed an envelope that had been precariously placed on the desk. It had one corner sandwiched between two books with the rest of it standing vertically. There was a note attached to it.

**This came for you earlier, Rose. I smell another job!  
Hugo .**

Not wanting unfinished work left and the note from the manager, Hugo, piquing her curiosity, she took envelope and a letter opener from her desk. Opening is to find a letter, she sat behind her desk, placing her booted feet upon it and reclined to read in comfort. When she was finished, she couldn't help but grin.

_Another job indeed._

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Okay, first things first, I am not dead _nor_ have I stopped Fate/Gallica. XD

Real life got hairy when there was a death in the family and a plethora of other bad happenings that all but sapped my will to write.

So, basically, to prove I'm back and writing, this is a bit of an early release - a teaser, if you will - of the sequel to my first fanfic, Fate/Gallica.

Thanks to following a different character, I can kind of get away with this and figured I may as well put this up here. :p

To any readers of Fate/Gallica (I can't imagine that's a whole lot but whatevs), it's getting an update soon _and_ will be back on a stable schedule ASAP!

I hope you enjoyed this little sampling, and checkout Fate/Gallica if you haven't already. :)


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